Canon City News

Suzanne Phipps' artwork on display at The Artists' Gallery

Some paintings for sale at gallery

Donna Murphy, left, and Sammy Burman hold an original painting by the late Suzanne Phipps on Monday at the Artists' Gallery. (Carie Canterbury / Daily Record)

Several original paintings by the late Suzanne Phipps are on display at the Artists' Gallery through December. (Carie Canterbury / Daily Record)

Much of the late Suzanne Phipps' life was an open book, lived out in the public eye, but not many people knew that in her quiet, alone time, she spent her time painting.

Likely on public display for the first time, several of her pieces, and one by her grandmother, Myrtle Estelle (Sheppard) Nelson, will be on display at The Artists' Gallery through December.

Some of the paintings are available for purchase, with proceeds going to the restoration of the Rialto Theater in Florence, and others are on loan from the collections of family and friends. Some of the paintings are under Phipps' pseudonyms S. Phipps, Ople Morquardt and S. Goodnight.

After a previously undiagnosed autoimmune disease, Phipps died Dec. 2, 2014, at the age of 77. Much of her life in Cañon City and Denver was dedicated to fundraising for a variety of charitable organizations. She owned her own advertising and public relations agency in Denver in the 1960s and again in the early 1980s, and in the early 1960s, she worked in the booming film industry in Spain for Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Phipps golfed and wrote for golfing magazines while living in Puerto Rico.

Phipps served as the director of Economic Development for Fremont County and was active with the Fremont Center for the Arts in the 1990s. Her grandmother was a founding member of the FCA.

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The last 10 years of Phipps' life were dedicated to the restoration of the historic Rialto Theater in Florence.

Friend and Rialto Theater board member Donna Murphy said Phipps learned to paint from her grandmother, but they both had taken art classes with Max Bernd-Cohen, an artist at the Broadmoor, in the 1940s. After her death, Murphy met with Phipps' family to sort through her paintings and memorabilia.

Several original paintings by the late Suzanne Phipps are on display at the Artists' Gallery through December. (Carie Canterbury / Daily Record)

Sammy Burman, owner and operator of The Artists' Gallery, knew Phipps and her family most of her life. She said the paintings for sale give a unique opportunity for someone to support the Rialto Theater while at the same time garnering a piece of history.

"This way, the community can know this part of her," she said. "This was an important part of her life. I think this was relaxation for her, because she always went 100 miles an hour. I think this was a form of meditation for her."

The exhibit also contains a book with articles featuring Phipps and copies of letters she wrote to family members during her travels.

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